The American Debt Crisis

Today, America as a country is in 20.2 Trillion dollars of debt. To many, this is simply a number that is too big to personalize. And, why should we? After all, 20.2 Trillion isn't that significant for a country the size of America, is it?

Well, lets look at that number in a few different ways. The current population of the USA is about 319,000,000 as of 2014. This means that every person in America would have to pay off $63,335 of debt in order to pay off the national deficit.

Now, lets take that number and consider the fact that much of the American population is not working; either because they are too young, retired, unemployed, stay at home parents, or unable to work due to disability. As of December 2016, there are 123.57 million full time employed workers. Sooo... this means that if all of the people that are working and producing an income, each of them would have to pay $163,501 in order to pay off the national debt.

Now, there is one last major piece to consider. Aside from the national debt, most adult Americans have personally borrowed money as well. Currently, the average personal debt per american household is about $132,000. Currently the median household income is about $51,000, depending on region, which doesn't leave a lot of room in the budget for American's to pay off their own debt, much less the national debt.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Having said all of the above, I believe that their is still one major issue with debt. I have found that whenever you choose to finance something, you have just become a modern day slave. I know the word "slave" may seem a bit extreme to many of you but I would ask you these questions:

Do you have control of your life? Or do your credit cards, car loans, home loans, and student loans get to determine where your money goes and if you will have enough money for food this month? If you lose your job, will you just lose your source of income, or will you lose your house, car, and get to go to court to file bankruptcy because someone else actually owned everything you had?

This is the real crisis in America. Not only is our country in outrageous amounts of debt but so are the American people. America as a country will be hard pressed to be a forerunner and a leader in the world if someone else owns us just by purchasing our national treasury notes. We must become a free country made up of free people. Freedom has always had a price to pay for it. For our generation, we will have to work hard and to deny ourselves some of the luxuries we have become accustomed to in order to gain back our freedom and pay off our debt.

Though this may sound hard, or impossible, but imagine your life where you didn't owe a single debt to anyone? What if you got to decide how you wanted to spend your entire pay check every month? How free and amazing would it feel to have more than enough, and to be able to help friends and family when they are in need, because you are not paying $500 a month for an auto loan?

This is the kind of blessed life that I am seeking after. I know it may sound crazy to some of you, but I would rather be crazy and free than to be normal and in bondage to my creditors. I hope all of you will join me on this journey to gain back our freedom and to be able to pass on an inheritance to the next generation instead of a debt obligation.